The invention relates to improvements in suspended ceiling grid components and, in particular, to end connectors for main runners or tees of such systems.
It is difficult to produce a main tee grid connector with previously known designs that is consistently easy to assemble in the field and that will result in a reliable and positive interconnection. Various known end connectors for main runners or tees can be somewhat difficult to install for numerous reasons. Such connectors may not be self-aligning and if they have provisions for self-alignment, their performance in this regard may be marginal at best. Smooth engagement and coupling between end connectors can be obstructed where the configuration of the connector parts have prominent surfaces or projections that interfere with the advance of mating end connectors.
Typically, main runners are 12xe2x80x2 long and are installed by a technician who, during an installation, grasps the runner, relative to the end being joined to a preceding runner, on the far side of its center. This permits proper balance and allows the technician to be in a suitable position to initially tie the runner up in suspended position. Thus, the technician is at least 6xe2x80x2 away from the joint so that it is difficult for the technician to clearly see the end receiving pocket of the preceding runner. Moreover, from this location, the technician cannot cup the ends to be joined in one hand to align them together. Consequently, there remains in the art, a need for an end connection or splice system that affords improved self-aligning capability.
A more subtle but sometimes more troublesome problem occurs when the end connectors are out or nearly out of dimensional tolerance due to variations in material stock, tool wear or other manufacturing conditions. In this circumstance, the forces required to connect the ends of the runners may vary from one runner to the next so that the technician installing the grid is confounded by not knowing for sure if a good connection is being made. Additionally, these dimensionally marginal parts can require excessive assembly force, again to the distraction or frustration of the technician.
The invention provides an end connector or xe2x80x9csplicexe2x80x9d for main runners or tees that has improved self-aligning properties and that provides greater consistency and comparatively lower levels in the force required to complete a connection. The connector of the invention includes an end tab that is configured to align itself with an identical opposing connector to which it is being joined. The connector further includes a resilient pocket receiving area for the end tab of the opposing connector that avoids both high assembly force levels and widely varying assembly force levels in the installation of one runner to the next.
In the illustrated embodiment, the end tab has elements for aligning itself to the receiving pocket of an opposed connector in both the vertical and horizontal directions. The vertical alignment feature is advantageously effective from a condition where the end tab misalignment is physically limited by the flange of the opposed tee runner. This structure enables a connection to be made where the end tab is first laid on the flange of the opposing previously installed runner and then is simply subjected to an endwise force by the installer. The leading profile of the end tab is effective, in the vertical location established by the flange of the opposed tee, to cam the end tab towards alignment with the mating connector. The vertical self-aligning character of the end tab is augmented by a lock lance element that registers with a groove in an opposed connector end tab. The vertical alignment action of the lock lance is assisted by horizontal alignment elements of the connector. The horizontal alignment elements of the connector comprise a lead angle formed by bending the forward portion of the end tab out of the plane of a main portion of the end tab and an outwardly flared entrance to the end tab receiving pocket. These lead angle and flared entrance elements provide relatively large, smooth camming surfaces, as compared to edge areas, that improve the smooth functioning of the connector. The lead angle of the end tab and outward flare of the opposed connector are readily inter-engaged for horizontal alignment. Additionally, these lead angle and outward flare components avoid any direct edge-to-surface contact between these components so that smooth sliding action occurs when the lock lance moves out of the relief groove of the opposed connector in the late stages of the assembly movement where the potential interference between the connectors is greatest.
The disclosed connector is arranged to produce an audible click when a connection is completed and, therefore, signal the same to the installer technician. The repeatability and loudness of the click is the result of several structural elements of the connector. The lock lance has a locking edge configured to cause it to snap over a mating edge of the opposed connector without interference with the locking edge of the opposing connector. The resilient character of the receiving pocket of the opposed connector imparts kinetic energy to the end tab when its lock lance snaps over the locking edge of the opposed connector. The end tab, additionally, has stiffening ribs which increase the sharpness of the click made by the snap-over of the lock lance.